The Unconventional Birth of Sahk Jr
by Sahk
Summary: When Lee and PNeji decide to murder their own unborn child, Sahkura is helpless to stop them. Until a new hero -- Tobi -- shows up. Oneshot, complete, some LeePNejiLee but mostly gen.


Sahk moaned mournfully deep in her hoarse throat, and with the small noise fell fat tears, sliding down tracks already defined by tears she'd cried that night. One hand was extending itself slowly to meet the shoulder of the body laid in front of her, but it stopped abruptly when a hand cupped Sahk's elbow.  
"Khodaa," Sahk whined, turning to take her child into her arms, but Khodaa's raised hand stopped her.  
"Mommy, you need to come."  
"But you know I can't leave Muffin alone with–"  
"They're asking for a name."  
"It's – Pneji's –" A strangled noise as Sahk's stomach twisted cruelly and her throat tightened.  
"It's alive."  
Sahk efficiently scooped all of the dangerous nurses and Khodaa out of the hospital room, slamming the door on her way our, leaving the nurses in a thwarted, confus heap in the hallway, and dragging Khodaa with her.

Earlier

Lee was lost in blue flame. His silhouetted body was as anonymous as Anonymous. The curve of his arm, pulling back, seemed to pulse with shining power that made Sahk's eyes squint and burn. But his voice, full and sure, rang unobstructed:  
"FAAAAAAAAALLLCOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNN –"  
Sahk's forehead flipped into her hands, her back hunching over her turbulent core, as she responded with a tear-choked scream. She realized in that moment there was no way to stop the couple from murder. In this wrecked state, SuperSahk was powerless.  
Away from her, Khodaa and Shizune exchanged glances. Khodaa's fists were clenched, and Shizune had arms wrapped tight around her midsection.  
PNeji stood ready, face down with eyes unfocused and directed slightly beyond his stomach. Hands fluttered, wanting to rest on the glowing curve but stopping themselves. Finally, they clasped behind him, slipping on sweat, squeezing tighter and tighter.  
Finally Tobi, unnoticed. Tobi was in motion.  
He ran, ruthlessly and without any attempt at balance, knowing time was the only factor. Flew and never landed in a race to intercept the blow meant for PNeji's baby.  
No one saw Lee's fist hit: it was lost in white. No one saw Tobi falling sideways and forward into the hit, then blowing back, limbs loose and limp – their eyes were clenched against the light.  
But they all heard.  
"PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

Her eyes opened slowly and focused slower. The first thing she saw was the one thing that hadn't been rearranged: Pneji stood firm and untouched, coming out of his bracing for the impact. Khodaa and Shizune had been blown back and were pulling themselves together, Lee was nowhere to be seen, and Tobi –  
No, she couldn't even speak. The word, simple, dropped into her like the final drop of sadness into the overflowing bucket: no.  
Tobi lay, spread on the ground, arms wide.  
By the time Sahk was crashing down next to Tobi's body, Shizune and Khodaa were already crouching there. Sahk's hands panicked, unsure if they should touch. Finally, trembling, one cupped the side of Tobi's mask and caressed, just as PNeji reached them, walking stiffly with eyes and mouth wide.  
"Tobi –" started a shaken Shizune just as the sobbed beginnings of a "Muffin" fell from Sahk's mouth.  
But Tobi interrupted and all fell silent. "I… am – …batman…" Tobi chocked, and his head fell down and away from Sahk's hand.

Khodaa slipped from her grasp and came into the room slightly after her.  
Sahk was immediately blind to any- and everything when her eyes fell on the baby. She reached for it, and miraculously it came into her arms, soft, glowing and so perfect, and so tiny. She held the small thing to her breast.  
Shizune looked up from PNeji's bedside and Chaines, who had arrived as quickly as she could when she heard the news, elbowed a stray nurse away from her absently, and along with them Khodaa locked her eyes on Sahk.  
The baby opened its eyes, and the Shuers observed Sahk's face twisting into a smile, tears drying on her face, as Sahk looked into the white, shy eyes of PNeji's baby, peeking out from beneath Lee's bolded eyebrows. Sahk's hand felt the curve of the baby's head, reminding her of the curve that had been in PNeji, and she felt peach fuzz. She tilted the body towards her to see the color. It was pink and curly.  
"Ma'am?" came a voice from the direction of the hand currently jiggling Sahk's upper arm. "Ma'am…? The name…?"  
Finally, Khodaa got annoyed and came forward to snatch the baby from Sahk. "They want a name."  
Sahk uncurled slowly, her arms dropping. "The –?"  
The nurse leaned against one of the machines attached to PNeji. "The baby...? Needs a name," she reminded.  
Sahk's heart shattered. Chaines, Khodaa and Shizune all smiled softly and cast their gazes downward, Shizune to PNeji looking peaceful, Khodaa to PNeji's fussing child, Chaines down to her hands, as Sahk answered in a clear voice for the first time that night:  
"Sahk. Sahk… Junior."

Epilogue

"The nuuurses, I can't – with the nurses –"  
"It's okay, Muffin, we'll get rid of the nurses. It's okay, shh," Sahk assured the patient as Shizune shooed nurses out the door. Sahk had her eyes on Tobi and Sahk Jr. in her arms, suckling on a bottle. She bounced her gently.  
Then, a knock on the door.  
"They're coming back, guys, they're nurses, they don't just give up –"  
"Muffin," Sahk said, and Tobi quieted.  
Sahk rose, and Chaines jumped forward to open the door. Khodaa rolled Lee in.  
His eyes rose slowly and surveyed everything in the small room before they reached his child. In Sahk's arms, Sahk Junior's hands flailed and she dropped her bottle. With a clatter, it fell to the floor near Tobi's bed.  
As soon as Lee's wheelchair was settled comfortably facing Tobi's bed, PNeji walked in, approaching tentatively. Sahk took the steps forward and laid Sahk Junior in her mother's arms.  
Sahk Junior cooed as PNeji kneeled near Lee, and fussed as she was passed between parents, but as soon as she was settled on Lee's broad chest, her tiny face calmed, his eyebrows smoothing on her small face and her eyes wandering from some spot on the ceiling to the underside of her father's chin.  
Behind PNeji, a long string of Shuers had entered, and they had steadily filled the room until Konan had to hover outside the door and there was no more room for nurses. Tsunade and Sahk were embracing warmly and the murmur of joyful chatter spilled through the whole hallway as the emergency family meeting of sorts began.  
Lee's voice was soft, but it cut through the air, and everyone fell silent as he spoke.  
"Welcome to the cult, Sahk Jr. J-jau."

AND THEY ALL LIVED DYNAMICALLY EPIC PHAILURELY EVER AFTER.


End file.
